I bought a Fractal device specifically
because I don't want to use plugins. I just want to switch on and play and not touch my computer or 3rd party audio interfaces. Don't really care about plugins at all
it’s precisely the reason why I have a fractal unit sat on my desk that doesn’t get used because other stuff is faster and more convenient. I have never even put the fm-3 on the floor because it’s so massive - they really just don’t make a product that suits my needs, despite the fact I love the sound and features. I want to be able to use and edit multiple instances, mix and match with other plugins I own, do stuff with automation, save presets and sounds within a DAW session, use certain fx over different parts of a mix.
Having smaller form factor pedals that only focus on particular fx with a focus on useability would also be extremely popular. The FM-3 is massive and slow to use if I only want to do specific tasks, it has the UI and size of a workhorse/centrepiece rather than something to compliment my existing gear.
In a lot of ways, using Fractal gives me the worst of both analog (limited to one instance at a time, physical space, power, patchbay real estate) and the worst of digital (external latency, one sample rate, one instance at a time, lots of unused features/complex UI),
Fractal have already done the R&D and are sat on the code. Line 6, Eventide, UAD, Strymon, TC etc all cashing in with various products aimed at different areas of the industry using their existing code. There’s a huge market sat there raring to go, Fractal have had it available for ages if they want it.
Only catering to a narrow pool of guitarists who are prepared to use their products in specific ways is such a small minded way at looking at technology IMO. There’s so much scope to use exactly the same tech in a multitude of ways. A lot of the hard work is already done
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